Loughborough job for Cobb means a loss for Leics

Leicestershire are set to lose a key member of their backroom staff with Russell Cobb, coach of their successful county age group teams, poised to become the new director of cricket at Loughborough MCC University.

Cobb, 50, has been with the Foxes for 32 years, first as an opening batsman and more recently as a coach, but he is expected to be confirmed as successor to the late Graham Dilley – who died in October – at Loughborough.

Cobb played 118 first-class matches between 1980 and 1989, including a stint with Northern Transvaal B in South Africa, before he moved into coaching.

He has served loyally under a number of different coaches and stayed mostly out of the limelight. But Cobb’s contribution to Leicestershire cricket should not be underestimated.

With the focus on the development of home grown talent at Grace Road, Cobb has played his part by bringing the likes of Stuart Broad, James Taylor, Jigar Naik, Nathan Buck, Greg Smith and his own son, Josh, through Leicestershire’s age group teams onto the senior staff.

Both Broad and Taylor have gone on to play senior international cricket for England, and Buck has enjoyed a fine winter with England Lions in recent months.

Cobb’s expected appointment as Loughborough’s new director of cricket will come just six weeks before the start of the new domestic season.